Pocahontas and Other Poems (New York)/Prayer at Sea
PRAYER AT SEA.
Prayer may be sweet in cottage homes,
Where sire and child devoutly kneel,
And through the open casement nigh
The vernal blossoms gently steal.
Prayer may be sweet in stately halls,
Where heart with kindred heart is blent,
And upward to the Eternal Throne
The hymn of praise melodious sent.
But he who fain would know how strong
The soul's appeal to God may be,
From friends and native land should turn,
A wanderer on the faithless sea:
Should hear its deep imploring tone
Rise upward o'er the thundering surge,
When breakers threat the fragile bark,
And winds with waves their conflict urge.
No spot on which his foot can rest,
No refuge where his form may flee,
How will he cling, oh Rock Divine,
And bind his anchoring hope to Thee.